Conservation tourism
Turning visitors into conservation revenue without turning wildlife into a prop.
28 resources
-
Conservation Atlas
Places and initiatives where tourism money reaches conservation, with photo essays and destination guides
Find destinations where tourist money reaches conservation, useful when supporters ask where to travel
-
Global Sustainable Tourism Council
Owns the sustainable tourism criteria and accredits the bodies that audit against them. It does not certify anyone itself
Work out who accredits whom before trusting a sustainability label, since GSTC certifies nobody
-
EarthCheck
Tourism sustainability benchmarking and certification
Benchmark a lodge or operation against its peers before paying for full certification
-
Green Destinations
Certification and reporting for whole destinations rather than single businesses
Certify a whole destination rather than one business, which is what a region actually needs
-
Travelife
Sustainability certification for tour operators and travel agencies
Certify a tour operator or agency, the part of the chain most schemes skip
-
Fair Trade Tourism
Fair trade certification for African tourism businesses. Use this domain, not the old booking one
Check African operators for fair trade certification, using this domain rather than the old booking one
-
Ecotourism Australia
ECO Certification for ecotourism operators and guides
Look for ECO Certification when vetting an Australian operator or guide
-
Ecotourism Kenya
Eco-rating certification for Kenyan lodges and camps
Check a Kenyan lodge's eco-rating before recommending it to donors or visiting supporters
-
TOFTigers
Certification for wildlife lodges and operators in India and Nepal
Verify an Indian or Nepali lodge is certified before sending guests near a tiger reserve
-
Whale Heritage Areas
Accreditation for whole destinations where communities watch cetaceans responsibly, run by the World Cetacean Alliance. The old whaleheritagesites domain now just points here
Check whether a whale watching destination is accredited before recommending it
-
Blue Flag
Environmental award for beaches, marinas and tourism boats
Point supporters at an award they already recognize from beach and marina signage
-
The Long Run
Membership for conservation-led tourism businesses, built on the 4C standard
Join if tourism revenue funds your conservation, and use the 4C standard to structure reporting
-
The International Ecotourism Society
The field's oldest body and a useful guidelines archive. Its newest content is from 2021, so not an active network
Mine the guidelines archive, but expect no reply since nothing on it postdates 2021
-
Global Ecotourism Network
Regional ecotourism practitioner networks
Find a regional practitioner network when a global body sits too far from your context
-
Adventure Travel Trade Association
Adventure travel industry trade association
Reach operators who could route clients, and money, toward your site
-
African Travel and Tourism Association
Pan-African tourism trade association
Reach African tour operators and the trade press through one membership
-
Future of Tourism Coalition
Destination-first tourism principles, with a toolkit for applying them
Apply its destination-first principles when tourism pressure is the problem rather than the funding
-
Wilderness Trust
Safari-funded grants for African conservation projects
Apply for safari-funded grants for African projects, a channel outside the usual foundations
-
Conservation Travel Foundation
Namibian travel-funded conservation and community grants
Apply if your project is Namibian, where travel revenue funds community and conservation grants
-
Tourism Cares
Travel industry nonprofit funding community impact projects
Pitch a community impact project to the travel industry instead of a conservation funder
-
IUCN Tourism and Visitor Management in Protected Areas
IUCN best-practice guidelines for tourism inside protected areas
Take its guidelines when a protected area needs visitor management designed before numbers grow
-
IUCN WCPA Tourism and Protected Areas Specialist Group
The IUCN expert group on protected area tourism
Ask the expert group when a protected area tourism decision needs external backing
-
Tools and Resources for Nature-Based Tourism
World Bank database of nature-based tourism toolkits, searchable
Search a curated set of nature-based tourism toolkits rather than assembling one from scratch
-
World Animal Protection: travel and tourism
Animal welfare guidance for travel companies and the venues they sell
Use its criteria to judge whether a venue your supporters visit is defensible on welfare
-
UN Tourism wildlife watching study
What wildlife watching is actually worth in Africa
Quote a UN valuation when a government treats wildlife watching revenue as unproven
-
Sustainable Travel International
Tourism impact measurement and destination climate tools
Measure a destination's tourism impact when you need numbers rather than principles
-
Destination Stewardship Center
Destination stewardship reporting and practitioner case studies
Read practitioner case studies from the former National Geographic center on managing a whole place
-
Travel Forward
Destination tourism research and toolkits. Renamed from The Travel Foundation, so search both
Take its destination toolkits, and search The Travel Foundation for anything published earlier